OPINION

Poetry: How Can This Belief Yield?

December 06, 2007
Vivek Sharma

With a belief that one day my poems and songs will reach a wider audience, (a belief every aspiring artist shares), I present you with a translation of one of my favorite songs penned by Mir Ali Hussein. Dor is a beautiful movie, written and directed by Nagesh Kuknoor, and apart from the song I translate here, has two more gems: Kesariya Balam (a classic melody) and Iman ka asar (a lilting tune, awesome lyric).

Yeh honsla kaise ruke (How can this belief yield?)

How can this belief yield?
How can this want cease?
It's a stiff goal: so what?
Fogged is the shore: so what?
This hearts' alone: so what?
Ho...

If thorns are strewn on path,
you still need to walk on,
The evening might cloak the sun,
but the night has to end as dawn.

This season will pass,
Your valor will bloom
Sunshine will resume

How can this belief yield?
How can this want cease?
If good-will is granted to us,
The summer will pass in shade
I pray to God this way:
May our goals embrace us.

May there be darings hundred
And steep be getting accepted
Yet may all loves survive to end
Ho...

How can this belief yield?
How can this want cease?


यह हौन्सला कैसे झुके,
यह आरज़ू कैसे रुके

मंजिल मुश्किल तो क्या,
धुन्धला साहिल तो क्या,
तनहा ये दिल तो क्या
हो हो

राह पे कांटे बिखरे अगर,
उसपे तो फिर भी चलना ही है,
शाम छुपाले सूरज मगर,
रात को एक दिन ढलना ही है,

रुत ये टल जायेगी,
हिम्मत रंग लाएगी,
सुबह फिर आएगी
हो

यह हौन्सला कैसे झुके,
यह आरज़ू कैसे रुके
होगी हमें जो रहमत अदा,
धूप कटेगी साए तले,
अपनी खुदा से है ये दुआ,
मंज़िल लगाले हमको गले

जुर्रत सौ बार रहे,
ऊँचा इकरार रहे,
जिंदा हर प्यार रहे
हो

यह हौन्सला कैसे झुके,
यह आरज़ू कैसे रुके

Vivek Sharma is a Pushcart nominated poet, an engineer with a PhD, a career scientist and an Indian-American writer. His work is published or forthcoming in Poetry, Atlanta Review, The Cortland Review, Kartika Review, Bateau, etc. He contributes columns and verses to Divya Himachal (Hindi newspaper in India) and his research is published in science journals. Vivek spend his childhood in Himachal Pradesh, undergraduate days in IIT Delhi, doctoral days in & around Georgia Tech, Atlanta and is currently a postdoctoral research associate in Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (MA). Vivek's first collection, "Saga of a Crumpled Piece of Paper" (63 poems, English) will be published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta in 2009.
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Poetry: How Can This Belief Yield?

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Author: Vivek Sharma

 

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#1
r_i_d
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December 6, 2007
05:50 PM

//The evening might cloak the sun,
but the night has to end as dawn.//

what is harder? To write under the sun, or when he's gone?

Thank you for this translation. I don't know anything in Hindi, but I'll try to remember this: Iman ka asar.

#2
Vivek Sharma
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December 7, 2007
11:33 AM

I tried to transcribe poem preserving only the meaning, and keeping the rhythm intact.

Hindi poetry is full of beautiful verses. I hope I can translate some of them.

#3
Temple Stark
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December 7, 2007
10:02 PM

I only get question marks. Which language option should I use?

- temple

#4
Aaman
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December 7, 2007
10:06 PM

Try downloading the Hindi font - not sure how or from where

#5
Temple Stark
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December 7, 2007
10:12 PM

Cool,

Thanks. I'm confident in the Mac's global diversity and capability. ;-)

#6
Aaman
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December 7, 2007
10:19 PM

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